Lietuvių, tragedijos tipologiniai tyrinėjimai. Juozo Grušo ,,Herkus Mantas"
Typological Analysis of Lithuanian Tragedy. Juozas Grušas' "Herkus Manias"

Summary/Abstract: The article reviews typological links between the first Soviet Lithuanian tragedy Herkus Mantas by Juozas Grušas and the romantic-heroic, Shakespearean, existential dramas. The focus of the study is on the prevailing mode of thinking in the Lithuanian drama. The tier in Herkus Mantas that goes back in time the furthest is related to the romantic heroic drama tradition which accounts for the pathos, patriotism and heroic atmosphere. Shakespearean dramatic traits are manifest in the psychological, multifaceted (religious, national, social and psychological) type of the conflict; painful clash between the ideal and the reality, individual and collective interests, the past and the present; heroic tragic fault; a trial of the character by love; humanism. The problematic-analytical embeddedness of the drama, the relevance to reality and the degree of abstraction, the biased author's attitude are comparable to French intellectual (existential) drama. In Herkus Manias there is a way of seeing the layer of Soviet ideology which appears due to its affinity to romantic and existential ideologies. Grušas', as a tragedy writer's, biggest strengths lie in the openness of the tragedy plot, flexibility of interpretation, which allows to focus on the problem from different perspectives of many ideological systems, to shift the declared truths from one ideological location to another.

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